A man named Garth kills Jeb Perkins for the large amount of money he is carrying. As Doc Adams is leaving his office to tend to Sara Butler, who is in labor, he hears Perkins cry out and sees Garth fleeing. Doc yells for help. Matt Dillon confronts Garth. When Garth starts to draw his pistol, the Marshal shoots him.
Doc is now faced with a dilemma. He can treat the injured Garth, or he can go to the Butler farm and tend to Sara. Garth is not likely to live without Doc's help, and Doc chooses to help Garth. (As a doctor, he did not really have a choice.) He asks Kitty Russell to go to the Butler farm to assist Sara until he can get there.
Doc's repair job on Garth is successful, but Sara's baby dies. Tom Butler, Sara's husband, is furious that Doc made the choice he did.
Tom decides to visit Doc to discuss the situation. Just before he arrives at Doc's office, Garth manages to get out of bed and hits the snoozing Doc in the head. When Garth hears Tom approaching, he retreats into the room where he had been confined. Doc had warned Garth not to try to move around or he would begin hemorrhaging, but Garth is willing to risk death to eliminate the only eyewitness to the murder.
Of course, Tom does not know Doc was attacked. He thinks Doc is sleeping at his desk. When he tries to arouse Doc, the doctor falls out of the chair into the floor. Tom begins to examine Doc. Kitty sees Tom approaching Doc's office and goes to investigate. She sees Tom crouched beside Doc's body. Butler panics and runs away.
Matt and Festus Haggen are away from town when all of this takes place. The townspeople jump to the conclusion that Doc is dead, and Butler killed him, mostly thanks to an overly excited Louie Pheeters repeatedly yelling about Doc's death. Some of the good citizens of Dodge subsequently chase Tom to his farm intent on vengeance with nearly disastrous consequences.
Jack Lambert is at his sinister best as Garth. Here is a man whose life Doc saves, and his response is to try to kill Doc. Furthermore, he even tells Doc he will kill him if he gets a chance. His participation in seven Gunsmoke episodes goes all the way back to Season 4.
Joe Don Baker plays the high-tempered Tom Butler in his second and final Gunsmoke episode. Butler is an impetuous, independent sort with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Baker, who has always been a versatile, underrated actor, is perfect in the part.
Baker would soon go on to play Curly Bonner in Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner with Steve McQueen. I think Baker's portrayal of legendary Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser in 1973's Walking Tall was solely responsible for turning an exploitation film of questionable content into a surprise hit franchise. Although Baker has never been considered a major star, he tends to shine in whatever role he is cast, as he does here.
Eunice Christopher is Butler's wife, Sara. She is clearly fed up with Tom's stubbornness, and she resorts to some drastic measures to get him to listen to her. Christopher appeared in two different Gunsmoke episodes -- this episode, and Season 9's "The Bassops" where she plays the wife of a character played by Warren Oates.
By this point in the history of Gunsmoke, it is somewhat rare for an episode to feature all the regular characters. This is one of those rarer episodes.
A common plot element the Gunsmoke writers used during this period of the show was to have Matt Dillon absent throughout much of the episode only to arrive near the end to save the day. That device is used here to favorable effect.
There are other Gunsmoke scripts built around someone angry at Doc for saving the "wrong" person, or not saving someone. The treatment here is fresh, and there is so much going on in the story, it never drags.